Tutors for 2018

The tutors for 2018 include Lorna McGhee, Michael Cox, Ian Clarke, Wissam Boustany, Yvonne Robertson, Ruth Morley, Lee Holland and Lis Dooner. Find out who they are and what they do!

LORNA McGHEE

Scottish-born Lorna McGhee was appointed principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2012. Known for her “exceptionally rich and vibrant tone” (Washington Post) Lorna has performed as guest principal with Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and has been fortunate to work with conductors such as Haitink, Gergiev, Rattle, Solti, Harnoncourt, Muti and Honeck.

Before immigrating to North America in 1998, Lorna was co-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, England. As a soloist, she has given concerto performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the UK and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, and Victoria Symphony in Canada and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, San Luis Obispo Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the USA. Career highlights include a performance of Penderecki’s flute concerto with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra under the baton of the composer in 2004 and more recently, a performance of the Nielsen Flute Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 2014 with Maestro Tortelier. As a chamber musician and recitalist, she has performed in Europe, North America, Australia, Singapore and Japan in such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, the Louvre, Paris, the Schubertsaal of Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Her performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio in Canada, BBC Radio, NPR (USA), Netherlands Radio and ABC (Australia). She has made chamber music recordings for EMI, Decca ASV, Naxos and Meridian. Her recording for Naxos of Bax’ Chamber Music with the group ‘mobius’ was selected as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine. Along with Duo partner Heidi Krutzen, Lorna has released two CDs on Skylark Music: “Taheke, 20th century Masterpieces for flute and harp” and “Canada, New Works for flute and harp.” As a member of Trio Verlaine (with her husband, violist David Harding and harpist, Heidi Krutzen) Lorna has recorded two CDs: “Fin de Siècle,” the music by Debussy and Ravel, and “Six Departures”, featuring works by Bax and Jolivet as well as new commissions by Schafer and Cotton. Both the Trio and Duo are committed to broadening the repertoire and have contributed eight new commissions to date. Lorna’s first flute and piano recital disc, “ The Hour of Dreaming” with pianist, Piers Lane was released on the Beep label in 2014.

Having taught at the University of Michigan and the University of British Columbia, Lorna is now a member of the flute faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. She has given master classes at universities, conservatoires and flute festivals in the UK, USA, Japan and Canada, including Julliard School and the Royal Academy of Music. She often teaches at summer schools, including the Pender Island Flute Retreat, the William Bennett International Summer School, and the Galway Flute Festival. Lorna studied with David Nicholson in Scotland, and with Michie and William Bennett at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She is an honorary “Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music”.

MICHAEL COX

Michael Cox is one of Britain’s foremost flute-players. Although born in England he spent his childhood in Africa. He studied music at the Zimbabwe College of Music and then the Royal College of Music in

London. Early competitive successes led directly to a solo career that has included concerts and recordings in all continents and performances with major orchestras and conductors. As a chamber musician he has performed with many well known British quartets, quintets and ensembles (and worked alongside musicians of the ilk of James Galway and Murray Perahia) as well as being a member, at various times, of the Haffner and Albion wind ensembles, London Symphony Chamber Players and London Sinfonietta.

An interest in a wider repertoire led to a concurrent orchestral career, first as co-principal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and then as principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players and Britten Sinfonia. He now holds what he considers an ideal portfolio of tenures combining the principal flute chairs of a symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra and a contemporary music ensemble – namely the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. Through this work he has worked with a great raft of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists. Also, his particular interest in contemporary music has meant that he has also worked, often closely, with composers such as Messiaen, Takemitsu, Dutilleux, Berio, Boulez, Tippett, Birtwistle, Stockhausen, Henze, Adams, Carter, Penderecki, Lutoslawski.

A passionate and highly dedicated teacher, Michael Cox is professor of flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is sought after as a visiting consultant and by students worldwide. Michael Cox plays on Altus flutes and has recently become an Altus Artist.

IAN CLARKE

Ian Clarke is acknowledged as one of the leading player/composers in the flute world. His compositions have been performed across five continents on stages ranging from the South Bank to Glastonbury. These works are establishing themselves as some of the most exciting flute repertoire of today and are being embraced by internationally acclaimed performers, teachers, colleges & students alike.

Ian has performed as a guest soloist for the British Flute Society including the Third International Flute Convention, Manchester, as one of their ‘renowned artists’ at their 20th Century flute day in 2001 and appeared at the 2006 BFS international convention. He made his international debut as guest soloists at the NFA’s 2001 International Flute Convention, Dallas. Following on from this Ian was the guest artist at the 2003 Hungarian National Flute Event and a headline artist in the 2005 NFA convention in San Diego. He has given masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Northern and Trinity College of Music and has regularly been invited to perform & lead workshops for ‘Flutewise’ and numerous other flute events around the country. Ian has been a regular visitor to several of the leading Summer Schools. 2005 saw the release of his long awaited CD ‘WithinÉ’, now critically acclaimed and one of the flute world’s best sellers.

A prize-winning student, Ian studied with Simon Hunt, Averil Williams and Kate Lukas of the Guildhall School of Music, London. He concurrently studied Mathematics at Imperial College, London graduating with Honours. Ian is professor of flute at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Ian works extensively with musician/composer Simon Painter writing, producing and performing music for film & television under the name of Diva Music with numerous recordings between them and applications from Microsoft to Oprah Winfrey! – www.divamusic.co.uk

Ian is an International Miyazawa Flute Endorsee

WISSAM BOUSTANY

Wissam Boustany is one of only a few flautists to have launched a successful career as an international soloist, Wissam Boustany is a performer who inspires audiences with his energetic and communicative music-making. His flute has taken him on numerous tours to Europe, the Middle-East, Far East, USA and Latin America, where he continues to present many concerts, master-classes and workshops.

He embraces a wide repertoire, and has developed a keen interest in introducing the music of today within the context of imaginative program planning, which combines the innovative with the traditional. Amongst the composers who have written for him: Beat Furrer, Alun Hoddinott, Simon Holt, Tarek Younis, Carl Witt and Boghos Gelalian. He has also given the world prebmieres of Paul Reade’s Concerto, Walid Howrani’s Life Cycle, Peter Cowdrey’s Land of the Prophets and Carl Witt’s This Invisible World. As an orchestral musician, Wissam Boustany was closely associated with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the early 1980s, with whom he appeared as soloist on the award winning Deutsche Gramophone recording of ‘Il Viaggio a Rheims’. Three solo CDs are currently also available: Wandering Winds, Sounds from Within and Vivaldi’s Children.

Born in Lebanon, Wissam Boustany began his musical studies in Beirut with his stepfather. He moved to Britain in 1977 where he studied at Chetham’s School of Music & the Royal Northern College of Music. Throughout his career, Wissam has received many awards, notably the Silver Medal in the 1982 Madeira International Flute Competition and (in the same year) the woodwind prize in the Royal Overseas League Competition. He was also the Silver Medalist in the Shell/LSO Competition and won the 2nd prize in the woodwind section of the first ‘BBC Young Musician of the Year’.

His experience of the war in Lebanon greatly influenced his outlook on Life and Music, and he seeks to promote the ideal of Peace wherever his flute takes him. He has started “TOWARDS HUMANITY”, a multi-decade initiative using music as a catalyst to help heal the violence in many parts of the world, which was inaugurated at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in February 1995. TOWARDS HUMANITY works closely with charities and institutions in areas suffering from the tragedy of war, exposing their cultures and creativity rather than the more shameful qualities of mankind. Wissam Boustany’s communicative, energetic and sincere music making have inspired many audiences and musicians around the world.

YVONNE ROBERTSON

Born in Paisley, Yvonne graduated with a First Class Honours Degree from the Royal College of Music in London before returning to Scotland for postgraduate study on a full scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD). Since completing her Masters with Distinction, Yvonne appears regularly with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Northern Sinfonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBCSSO), often as guest principal. She is currently on trial for a position with The Halle Orchestra.

Yvonne is highly sought after as a soloist and has performed numerous recitals and concerti throughout the UK. She recently performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti with the London Concertante and is looking forward to an upcoming performance of Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with Sharron Griffiths. As well as numerous recordings and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, including a live broadcast as solo flute in Bach’s B minor suite with the BBCSSO, Yvonne has recorded for Linn Records, Nimbus Records, and BBC Scotland. She is a past recipient of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award, Dewar Arts Award, the EMI Music Sound Foundation Award and Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship which provided funds for study in New York with Robert Dick.

Competition and Scholarship successes include being a finalist in the 2009 Royal Over Seas League Wind, Brass and Percussion section and winning 2nd prize in the 2008 “Performing Australian Music Competition”. During her time at the RSAMD, Yvonne was awarded the John McGregor Flute Prize for outstanding achievement, and was the winner of both the Classical Concerto Competition and the Governors’ Chamber Music Prize.

RUTH MORLEY

Ruth Morley divides her time mainly between playing with Red Note Ensemble and teaching at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She also plays recitals with pianist Scott Mitchell and with Echo Chamber Ensemble, and teaches for Douglas Academy Music School. She is also in demand as an adjudicator, and has performed as a guest with various ensembles including the Edinburgh Quartet, Hebrides Ensemble and as concerto soloist with London Concertante.

As a soloist and chamber musician Ruth appears regularly at various festivals and concert series including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Sound, St Magnus, Bath, Warwick, Manchester Mid Day Concerts and Glasgow University. Recent work includes a recital and master class series in Slovenia and premiere performances of music by Bill Sweeney, Brian Irvine and Laurent Cuniot with Red Note Ensemble and the Orchestre d’Auvergne for Sound Festival and Musiques Démesurées in France. Other Red Note projects have included Pass the Spoon with Magnetic North Theatre Company, David Fennessy and David Shrigley, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass in the Concorde hangar and performances of Stephen Montague’s 3 Fables in Scotland and London as part of the first PRS New Music Biennale.

She worked for many years with the Scottish Flute Trio. With them she commissioned and premiered around 25 new chamber works from leading composers such as Thea Musgrave, Sally Beamish, Gordon McPherson, Javier Alvarez, Robert Dick, Edward McGuire, Kenneth Dempster, Joji Hirota and David Fennessy. Much of this work was in collaboration with dancers, writers and visual artists and was produced alongside a programme of projects to get young people writing their own music.

Broadcasting work includes regular appearances on Radio 3, Radio Scotland and she has been a featured artist on Classic FM. She has recorded for the Metier Label, Seven Things and Natural Studio Records, and most recently a new CD of chamber music by Edward McGuire with Red Note Ensemble for Delphian.

Ruth’s teachers were Peter Lloyd, David Nicholson, Wissam Boustany and Colin Lilley. She studied at RSAMD and RNCM where she was a Wingate Scholar. She is the founder of The Scottish International Flute Summer School, as was its director until 2015.

LIS DOONER

After studying flute in Glasgow with David Nicholson and London with William Bennett, Lis Dooner had a busy freelance career working with many orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Mozart players, City of London Sinfonia, London Classical Players and Academy of Ancient Music. She returned to Scotland in 1988 to join the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with whom she spent 25 happy years. While there she performed alongside major international soloists and conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Alfred Brendel and Emanuel Pahud. Lis has been involved in many chamber music concerts and concertos with the SCO as well as starting “SCO LAB”, an innovative group set up to explore new ways of devising music and to work with musicians from different cultures and disciplines.

Lis is part of the flute department at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has a busy private teaching practice. She is much in demand as a visiting tutor on flute courses where she has worked alongside Sarah Newbold, Wissam Boustany, Ruth Morley and Ian Clarke. Elisabeth recently visited Bangkok, Thailand, with Sarah Newbold where they delivered a series of highly successful flute workshops. Lis’s interest in baroque music and style, combined with experience in the Dalcroze method of teaching music, make her classes particularly interesting and challenging.

SCOTT MITCHELL

Scotland-based pianist Scott Mitchell has performed extensively as a chamber music pianist and accompanist throughout Great Britain, Europe, South America and the Middle East.

As a recording artist Scott Mitchell has released CDs for Chandos Records, ASV, Collins Classics, Black Box and Tosca Records and has recently recorded Dave Heath’s Piano Concerto, “The Passionate”, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, released on the Freestyle classics label. He is a regular performer on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and has also appeared on Channel 4 and the satellite Arts Channel.

In competitions he has been awarded the Lisa Fuchsova Prize for outstanding chamber music pianist and the Eric Rice Memorial Prize for outstanding accompanist, both at the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London.

Scott Mitchell is a senior staff accompanist and lecturer in accompaniment at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD) in Glasgow where he also teaches piano at the Junior Department. He is also a member of the accompaniment staff at Napier University in Edinburgh and also one of the founding members of the Cantilena Festival on Islay, a Festival for strings taking place on the island of Islay every summer.

CLAIRE HASLIN

Claire Haslin (piano) comes from Glasgow, where she studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Jean Hutchison. There she won prizes for Solo and Chamber music, including the Peter Morrison Prize for All Round Excellence and represented the Academy in recital tours of Iceland and Russia. Claire then completed the Advanced Solo Studies course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Paul Roberts, and whilst there was chosen to represent the college in the Paxos Chamber Music Festival. In 1997 she won the prestigious Sir Henry Richardson Award for piano accompaniment, and she has subsequently performed throughout Britain and Europe, including at the Purcell Room (London), the Edinburgh Festival, the Montalcino Festival in Italy and the Queen’s Hall (Edinburgh).

Claire is very active both as an instrumental and song accompanist encompassing a wide variety of music, from accompanying Ann Murray at the Vivartes Festival in Surrey and Christine Cairns at an Opera Gala in Ayr, to touring Switzerland with a group of cabaret singers and playing chamber music recitals for music societies throughout Scotland. She is a Crear Scholar, has worked as a repetiteur for Scottish Opera, and holds accompaniment and teaching posts at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow University music department, and the music school of Douglas Academy, as well as accompanying the NYCoS Training Choir.